ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Clim.
Sec. Climate Risk Management
This article is part of the Research TopicClimate Change, Risk Perception, and Healthy Environment ManagementView all 5 articles
Uneven Readiness: Measuring Climate Risk and Societal Preparedness across OECD and Key Partner Countries (2002–2022)
Provisionally accepted
- İzmir University of Economics, İzmir, Türkiye
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Understanding climate risk requires an integrated view that links environmental hazards to societal preparedness. This study develops the Climate Risk and Societal Preparedness Index (CRISP) to measure vulnerability and readiness across 36 countries—31 OECD members and five Key Partners—between 2002 and 2022. Comprehensive and state of the art literature review is used to select the initial set of indicators. Correlation analysis and network analysis methods are then utilized to select the final set of indicators, ensuring internal coherence, reducing redundancy among indicators, and increasing the explanatory power of the index. CRISP covers climate risk (disasters and temperature anomalies) and societal preparedness (economic, demographic, institutional, and infrastructural factors). In doing so, CRISP separates climate-related risk signals from societal preparedness conditions, whereas most existing indices combine these dimensions within a single composite measure. The contribution of CRISP lies in enhanced cross-national and longitudinal comparability. Results reveal diverse vulnerability patterns: Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands pair low risk with strong preparedness, while India and South Africa show persistent adaptive gaps. The United States and China face high risks but demonstrate comparatively robust readiness. The findings suggest that cross-country differences in vulnerability are also associated with socio-economic and governance conditions, rather than exposure alone. CRISP thus provides a decision tool to identify weaknesses, prioritize interventions, and strengthen resilience in national climate strategies.
Keywords: adaptation, Climate Change, index, mitigation, risk, Vulnerability
Received: 16 Nov 2025; Accepted: 06 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Biresselioglu, Demir, Ozcureci and Akdogan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mehmet Efe Biresselioglu
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